


Black Water, Take Over

by spockandawe



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Depression, Emotional Baggage, M/M, Multi, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Piercings, Reunions, Seeker Trines, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-27 20:41:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14433669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spockandawe/pseuds/spockandawe
Summary: Until this new posting, it’s been basically forever since you and Starscream and Thundercracker were stationed anywhere near each other. Used to be you went everywhere together, no matter what, but that was in the early days of the war. Things have gotten more complicated since then. Though that just means you’ve got to make the most of the situation as long as things are like this, right?





	Black Water, Take Over

**Author's Note:**

> Warning that a significant part of this story is about the deteriorating relationship between Starscream and Megatron, without Megatron actually entering the picture. Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker are treating each other largely decently, and the ugly tags are in reference to that background relationship.
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> [Tumblr](http://spockandawe.tumblr.com/post/173308086311/black-waters-take-us-spockandawe-the)

So, right, until this new posting, it’s been basically forever since you and Starscream and Thundercracker were stationed anywhere near each other. Used to be you went _everywhere_ together, no matter what, but that was in the early days of the war. Things have gotten more complicated since then. For everyone, not just you. _Still._ Though that just means you’ve got to make the most of the situation as long as things are like this, right?

Yeah, that’d be great, except that neither of them is _acting_ like it is. Sure, you guys are on leave for only a few days more, but Thundercracker’s barely even left his berth since you got here, and you did manage to drag Starscream out for a quick flight, and he spent the whole time being irritated and making snippy remarks. You didn’t let him pick a fight, because you can pick a fight with him anytime, thank you very much, and you’d like to _relax_ a little before the three of you go back on duty.

You guess maybe their last postings are part of it. Thundercracker was off for ages in deep space with _Bludgeon,_ eugh, and either of those things would have been bad enough on their own. And Starscream’s been stationed on the front lines with Megatron, which sounds a lot more entertaining than your own boring standard-issue alien planet infiltration posting. But you can see how he’d maybe come back from that a bit exhausted.

But come on, neither of them is acting excited about being stationed here, or—more importantly—being stationed here _together._ It’s an infiltration, sure, but if anyone here deserves to be tired of that, it’s you. The locals have some sharp-looking jets that might be primitive as slag, but they fit your frames real nice and mean you can go out for joyrides on the regular. And it’s good to _match_ again, all three of your frames had drifted away from each other while you were apart.

Besides, you hear tell that Megatron is going to be joining you before long, and then things are basically _guaranteed_ to get exciting.

Do Thundercracker and Starscream care about any of that? You wish you knew! Even when you bring it up right to their faces, you barely get a reaction out of either of them.

You wind up spending more time with Starscream than Thundercracker, just by virtue of how Starscream isn’t locking everybody out of his room most of the time. And you _do_ spend time with him, because even if he’s got a massive stick up his aft, you’re enjoying being stationed together and you know he must be too.

He arrives in a _mood_ and never really stops being in a mood, but that’s been more or less part of him for ages and ages, and feels familiar enough to get you all nostalgic and affectionate. You feel comfortable enough within days of seeing each other to start flirting again, and a day after you start flirting, you start getting a bit handsy. Starscream’s still acting like he doesn’t have other emotions besides ‘annoyed’, but you catch him almost smiling every so often, and once or twice his wings twitch likes he’s thinking about reciprocating.

He still ends up keeping you hanging for most of your leave time, but you don’t even mind that much, because by that point it’s clearly a game. You might want to get fragged, but getting things back to normal between you is almost as good. Besides, you’ve still barely even seen Thundercracker and most of your comms to him get a boring one-word reply, so you’ll play this game with Starscream now and work on Thundercracker later.

Starscream gives in, eventually, when you’re shamelessly sprawled half in his lap, playing with his wings. You’re close enough to hear the way his fans slowly, slowly start to spin up, and you know him well enough you can practically _hear_ him thinking about going for it.

When you pinch his aileron, he makes a decision, because before you even know what’s happening, he’s got you on your back and pinned to the couch with that dangerous, predatory smile that always makes you shiver.

“I thought you’d _never_ notice,” you say with a grin, even though you know he noticed days ago and has just been messing with you since then. Should you teleport out from under him and flip the script? Nah, it took _ages_ to get him this far, and you don’t want to risk anything that might send him into a sulk. Besides, he’s got you right where you want to be.

“Don’t tell me you thought you were being _subtle,”_ he says, looking you up and down in a slow, measuring way that makes your plating burn.

“I didn’t say I was subtle, I just said _you_ didn’t notice—”

You drop that sentence right the moment he bends to kiss you. It’s fun to rag on Starscream, but it’s a lot more fun to kiss Starscream. This, this is familiar. This feels just like the old days when the three of you never were stationed apart. You just need to drag Thundercracker out of his room and pull him into this, and things will be _right_ again.

Starscream pulls away, eventually, even though your arms are around his neck and you don’t do anything to make it easy for him.

He says, “Do I even need to ask you what you want?”

No, but— “If you frag me so hard you break the couch, I’ll give you my stipend for the whole next month?”

He snorts dismissively, which is about what you were expecting. “You’ll bribe me to break my own furniture? Wait until we’re in _your_ quarters and ask me again.”

You laugh and _laugh_ until he shifts back to put a hand between you and palms your panel. The laughter cuts off with a noise that ought to be embarrassing, but you’re having too much fun to worry about that.

Starscream asks, “Your valve?”

 _“Definitely,”_ you manage.

He sits back on his heels, spreading his legs as much as he can without falling off the couch (note to self, that would be _hilarious,_ set that idea aside for future entertainment). He waits to be sure you’re watching—you definitely are—and lets his panel open, taking his time, watching you as his spike pressurizes.

You’ve never been so good at _patience,_ so you sit up, reaching for his array, wrapping one hand around his spike. Oh, this, this is familiar and perfect. You’d never be able to forget the shape of his spike at this point in your life, it’s engraved right into your processor. Most spikes are kind of similar, but his is just as familiar as yours, you’d know it with your optics offline.

Until— Your fingers run into something unexpected, and you pause for a moment, startled. You bend forward to take a closer look, and laugh, surprised but delighted. “You got a piercing! Really? That’s too perfect. Get over here, I need this in me five kliks ago.”

You grab his shoulder, trying to tug him back over you, but he doesn’t move. He stays where he is, frozen. You keep the grin on your face, trying not to let the mood die, you don’t know why he’d get weird about this, but he’s been in that strange mood ever since he arrived—

Carefully, he says, “No I didn’t.”

You force yourself to laugh, even though it doesn’t sound quite right. “Didn’t… get a spike piercing? Come on, Starscream, it’s right there. I like it.”

The look on his face is making you nervous. More nervous than you were over any of the fights he tried to pick. He reaches down, runs his fingers along his own spike. He finds the piercings, right there on the underside, near the base. They’re definitely— definitely piercings. They’re the same color as his plating, but they’re not part of his original frame.

“Ah, of course,” he says. “Those piercings. How could I forget.”

You don’t like this. You don’t know what’s— The expression on his face hasn’t changed, but you’re more uneasy than before. What’s going on? _You don’t like this._

He bends over you, smiling again, but it’s not the _right_ smile. He says, “Back to business, then. You ought to enjoy the experience, I’ve heard some very interesting things—”

You brace one hand against his shoulder, holding him back. “When did you get them?”

His face freezes, and he takes a moment too long before he says, “I— It was when I was on Antilla, of course, just a few hundred years ago.”

“Stop lying. Starscream, when did you get them?”

He stays where he is for a few long nanokliks, not moving, not speaking, not doing _anything—_ and then he pushes away from you and stalks across the room to his washracks. The last thing you see before the door shuts behind him is Starscream with the back of his hand pressed hard against his mouth.

You scramble to your feet and follow him, but the door is locked when you try to go through. You knock, though you don’t really know what you’re expecting. Nothing happens, and you knock again.

“Starscream? Star? You okay in there?”

There’s still no answer, and you shift nervously from foot to foot. What should you do? And then you get a comm.

 

SS: Get out of my quarters.

 

You immediately try to reply, asking if he’s okay, asking what you can do to help— But none of your messages go through. He’s blocked you. He’s honestly _blocked_ you.

You leave, because if you don’t listen to that one message, you’re pretty sure you’ll only make things worse. You still drag your feet, glancing back over your shoulder every few steps, waiting for him to come out from the washracks and— You don’t know. Something. Explain. Tell you things are fine. Maybe not that, but _something._

There’s nothing, and no more comms, even when you leave his quarters and stand around in the hallway instead, waiting for some kind of message. When you try to message him, you’re still blocked.

You don’t know who to say anything to. _If_ you should say anything. There isn’t a senior officer to report things to, Starscream _is_ the senior officer, and you don’t want to see how angry he’d be if you told anyone else he had a problem.

But— There’s never been secrets between him and you and Thundercracker. Okay, that’s not quite true, but never _important_ secrets. War things and command things, yeah, whatever, but not _this_ stuff. Thundercracker would have (should have) been there with you two just now, and he would have known how to handle this much better than you. And Thundercracker’s on the base, you know he is, he hasn’t left since he arrived.

So before you can let your processor catch up and tell you all the reasons this is a bad idea, you send a flurry of comms to Thundercracker, explaining everything, and ending with you not-quite-begging him to tell you what to _do._

And then… nothing. There’s a long, long silence, and you don’t know if you’re more worried or angry. But then, you finally get a message.

 

TC: I don’t know, Skywarp.

 

That’s it. Nothing else. You wait, but there aren’t any more messages, _nothing._ You’re so angry you don’t trust yourself to reply. You ping Starscream again, but it’s no good, he still has you blocked. You… don’t ping Thundercracker. Because you can’t stand to know if _he’s_ blocked you too.

You stand around in the hallway for as long as you can stand, waiting for something else to happen, but there’s nothing, from either of them. Just dead silence. You eventually have to give up, because you don’t know what else you can _do,_ and drag yourself back to your own quarters to sit, alone, and try your very hardest not to think.

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](http://spockandawe.tumblr.com/post/173308086311/black-waters-take-us-spockandawe-the)


End file.
